Kaweewat Siwanartwong

Soi Nana has a way of slowing you down, even when Bangkok doesn’t. It’s not the sort of place you stumble into by accident anymore – though it used to be. Once upon a time, these shophouses dozed behind corrugated shutters, a red-light side street that didn’t expect to be reinvented. Now, there’s a different kind of glow. Neon from cocktail dens. Cigarette smoke curling around someone’s slow walk home. The hum of a neighbourhood that has decided, in its own stubborn way, that it will be all things at once: a little louche, a little cosmopolitan, and always vaguely improvised. Tonight, I am sitting inside one of them – G.O.D., which stands for Genius on Drugs – with the man who arguably started it all. The room looks like it has been built to confuse: walls tiled in fractured mosaic, pillars like something salvaged from a ruined temple, and the low-lit, surreal intimacy of a chapel gone rogue. The cocktails, of course, are a different sort of scripture. Across the table sits Niks Anuman-Rajadhon, co-founder of this place and the string of bars that have made Soi Nana one of the capital’s most magnetic districts: Teens of Thailand, Asia Today, TAX, Independence. Bartenders across the world know him, but here on Nana he seems more like a local who never quite left the party. “People talk about bar culture like it’s a thing you can plan, but most of this just started because I liked being here.” Photograph: god_bkk Photograph: god_bkk A gin bar that rewrote a street Teens of

Bangkok’s dining scene never ceases to impress with new restaurants constantly adding fresh energy to the city’s vibrant food landscape. While elegant fine dining establishments often steal the spotlight with their refined menus and impeccable presentation, casual eateries play an equally important role in shaping the city’s culinary identity. From bustling street-side stalls to trendy bistros, these spots capture the capital’s lively spirit through bold flavours, creative concepts and inviting atmospheres. If you’re planning a romantic evening for two, a laid-back family dinner or even a solo food adventure, there’s no shortage of exciting options. The city’s diverse culinary landscape continues to expand, offering everything from Cantonese and French delicacies to comforting Burmese dishes. Whether you’re drawn to modern fusion cuisine or timeless classics, there’s always something new to discover. Discover, book, and save at hundreds of restaurants with Grab Dine Out. Enjoy exclusive discounts, use dining vouchers, and make instant reservations, all in the Grab app. Explore Grab Dine Out now.

It’s been raining for days now – the kind that arrives without drama, steady and unrelenting, softening the edges of the city. And with forecasts promising more of the same, Bangkok leans indoors this weekend. But wet weather doesn’t mean stillness. Two flea markets open their doors to the rain-soaked and restless. At Warehouse Talad Noi, it’s a return to form – vintage threads, handmade bits, vinyl spinning low in the background. Across town, Chang Chui offers its own version, a place where the past lives in the objects and people you brush against while browsing. Then there’s Kangkao, the collective reshaping what underground can mean in Bangkok. Their latest night promises a storm of its own – sonic, sweat-laced, fleeting. A reminder that subculture doesn’t always shout; sometimes it simmers. And if the weekend needs a soundtrack, there’s HONNE. The British duo’s return isn’t marked by hype, but by a mango sticky rice-toting mascot on a pastel poster – sweet, strange, specific. Their set will slide between ‘Day 1’, ‘Warm on a Cold Night’ and the aching sincerity of ‘Location Unknown’. They make music that feels handwritten – ink smudged, corners folded, kept in a coat pocket for too long. Rain or no, this weekend offers shelter. Not just from the weather, but from the noise. Get ahead of the game and start planning your month with our list of the top things to do this July. Get your cultural calendar fixed with art exhibitions this July.

By August, the weight of relentless rain might have you craving something lighter – something to cut through the damp and slow the city’s pulse. But instead of hiding away, it’s worth rallying, because Bangkok’s cultural calendar is quietly humming with invitations to step outside the ordinary. Take SAMA Garden Movie Night, for example: three evenings of open-air cinema beneath a softly glowing dome, nestled among the trees. It’s the kind of event that turns watching a film into an experience – whether you’re nestled beside friends, a date or even your dog. The line-up feels like a gentle escape, with classics like The Notebook and Cast Away reminding us of love, loss and the inescapable pull of storytelling. If you’re a book lover whose summer reading list needs a refresh, the Big Bad Wolf Books Festival is a beast of its own – overflowing with over two million titles, it’s less a fair and more a literary labyrinth. The chaos is part of the charm, each stack begging you to surrender your sensible intentions and leave with more than you bargained for. For those craving spectacle, The Phantom of the Opera returns after more than a decade, reclaiming the stage with its gothic grandeur and haunting melodies. The show still mesmerises with the kind of emotional intensity that doesn’t just entertain but envelops, offering a velvet-draped escape into obsession and mystery. And if you want to chase something more primal, Jurassic World: The Experience invites you to walk among life-

I’m sitting inside the bar that isn't quite finished. There’s no sharp scent of fresh paint clinging to the air, but there’re chairs – mid-century in ambition but scuffed just enough to feel like they’ve lived – scattered like punctuation marks. In the centre of it all is a transparent DJ booth, looking more like an art installation than a workspace, glowing faintly in the late afternoon light. I’m sitting with one camera man, opposite Nick Supreda with a list of questions folded in my palm and the sense that I’ve arrived mid-thought, not at the beginning of anything. Raised in Southern California by aunts who taught him the value of taste and autonomy, Nick returned to Bangkok after college and built something between a movement and a myth. With music, nightlife and fashion as his language, he’s turned subculture into infrastructure – founding Blaq Lyte and more recently, Bloq, a new bar in Thonglor that feels like a blueprint. We’re here, in the almost-finished glow of his latest creation, to talk about Thonglor – his kingdom of contradictions. The place where meetings dissolve into midnight sets, where hype meets heritage and where the future of Bangkok’s creative class continues to quietly unfold. Photograph: madebylegacy All bright lights and quiet blueprints ‘Thonglor has this unexplainable charge – it’s like a magnet for ambition and chaos,’ he says, lifting his glass without sipping it. ‘It’s the only place I’ve found where business meetings turn into afterparties a

The first half of the year has seen a steady stream of new store openings across the capital. From flagship debuts and major renovations by global brands to Thai labels expanding into prime department store locations, the city’s fashion scene is evolving. Whether you’re after refined tailoring, functional everyday wear, or street-style staples, there's something for every kind of shopper.  We’ve rounded up the newest must-visit flagships – from bougie Parisian brands to cool Thai labels – that are making shopping feel fun again. Here’s where to head if you’re in the mood to browse, be inspired, or simply want a style upgrade.

Pride month may have closed its curtains, but the city’s cultural pulse shows no sign of slowing. June left us full – of installations, declarations, all the shades that make identity less of a statement and more of a spectrum. But if you thought it ended there, think again. July arrives with a quiet sprawl of exhibitions that ask different questions: about memory, language, loss and the shape of play. Still running is Lost in DOMLAND, Udom Taephanich’s gentle rebellion against the slow disappearance of silliness. It's not comedy, not quite tragedy either – more like a stage whisper from your younger self, reminding you that make-believe was once second nature. That monsters made of cardboard were just as real as the ones we now carry in our heads. Another good one, the Yuyuan Lantern Festival casts Bangkok in a softer light – literally. A first for the city, this chapter of China’s legendary spectacle reimagines ancient creatures from the Shan Hai Jing, their stories pulsing through illuminated paper forms. It’s part folklore, part fever dream. And if you're looking to trade fantasy for abstraction, Calligraphic Abstraction at Bangkok Kunsthalle offers Tang Chang’s trembling lines that blur scripture and spirit, proof that sometimes meaning lives in the unreadable. Then there’s The Shattered World, part of the James H. W. Thompson Foundation’s 50th anniversary programme – an ambitious, multi-site excavation of the Cold War’s lingering ghosts, stretching across the BACC, Jim

July is here, month seven. Just enough past the halfway mark to wonder where the time went, or what exactly we’ve done with it. Did the resolutions stick? Did we drink more water? Read more books? Fall in love a little or at least return a text on time? No pressure. But if things haven’t gone quite to plan, there’s still time. This month, Bangkok feels unusually alive. Not in the loud, glittery sense, but in the quieter, stickier moments that stay with you. On the music front, it’s a trio of emotions: Henry Moodie, whose heartbreak-pop feels like pages torn straight from a diary; Fred Again.., master of nostalgia stitched into club beats; and HONNE, returning with warmth, synths and a mango sticky rice mascot that says more than it should. For more cultural reasons, art spills onto the streets and gallery walls. Thailand Printmaking Festival celebrates the messy, ink-stained joy of DIY expression, swapping polish for process. Bangkok Horror Film Festival asks you to sit in the dark with strangers and your worst fears, then stay for the haunted house and ghost stories from film crews who swear it really happened. At Eat Ramen Fest, you’ll find 16 stalls, four master chefs and a prize for those who can eat their way through five bowls (no judgement). Meanwhile, the Bank of Thailand Learning Centre offers a softer pace with a reading fest: a book fair where you can collect stamps, browse with intention and sit beside the river, ignoring your phone for once. So no, maybe the year

Like most people who tumbled into the glitter-slicked rabbit hole of drag, my gateway was RuPaul’s Drag Race. The show was camp, chaotic and, occasionally, cathartic – and while I adored the performances, what I craved was context. That’s when Yellow Channel found me. Somewhere between a critique and a love letter, the channel offered commentary that felt neither detached nor indulgent. It was opinion with eyeliner – sharp, unblinking and occasionally smudged. Now, I’m staring at the face behind it – Pat (Phatthara Lertsukittipongsa) – via video call, framed by a glittery backdrop that feels more like a curtain call than a coincidence. He’s not just the creator of Yellow Channel. He’s also the mind behind Thailand’s Drag Star, a platform that’s bringing together performers from every corner of the country. Not just the Bangkok icons, but the dreamers from Chantaburi, the showgirls from Nakhon Si Thammarat, the misfits from every corner of Google Maps. Over the course of our conversation, we talk drag as transformation, Bangkok’s unpredictable scene and what makes a truly fabulous night. I also find out what, in his opinion, makes Time Out the best recommendation in town – but that secret’s staying tucked away until the final paragraph. If you’re ready, wig first, read on. Photograph: Yellow Channel How Pat got pulled into drag (without even realising) ‘I used to think RuPaul in drag and RuPaul out of drag were two different people,’ Pat admits with a grin. ‘I didn’t get it

555. No, not the number – though it might as well be the punchline. It's how we laugh in Thai: ha ha ha. It’s also how Lounys, a French-Algerian artist now living in Bangkok, occasionally sneaks humour into his work – a wink to the absurd, a code-switch between languages, cultures and emotions. Born in Paris with Algerian and Berber roots, Lounys is what happens when you fold a handful of cities into one mind: New York, Los Angeles, Miami, a few stops across Europe and now Thailand. His art has appeared across Bangkok, cropping up in galleries and pop-up shows like visual outbursts – provocative, dense, unfiltered. Drawing on satirical cartoons and caricatures, Lounys sketches out modern survival as a warped spectacle. Political figures are stretched, social archetypes distorted, but always with a knowing eye. There’s something dreamlike in his method – automatic, compulsive, channelling the spirit of 1920s surrealism while humming with the colour-fuelled energy of pop art. Photograph: Lounys We asked him a few questions, naturally – about the move, the city, the sprawl of it all. He tells us he’s adapting to Bangkok, slowly. The food, the pace, the people. Bangkok: too hot to hold, too alive to ignore – just like his work.  Looking back, how would you describe the different chapters of your artistic journey so far? What felt like turning points along the way? ‘My journey’s been instinctive – no map, no mentor, just motion. One chapter was solitude, another dialogue. The sh

June arrives like a glitch in the system – a month stitched together by celebration and resistance, identity and exception. It’s the kind of moment where art feels less like decoration and more like a way of breathing.  In Bangkok, art isn’t confined to white cubes or gallery walls. It spills, glitches and stares back. The galleries don’t sleep. The warehouses flicker with light. You’ll find exhibitions in places that feel vaguely illegal and performances that seem like they’ve been dreamt up at 3am by someone who hasn't blinked in days. And maybe that’s enough: to witness, to feel, to not look away. Because art, like identity, was never meant to be tidy. Remember Lost in DOMLAND? That surrealist maze of desire and disorientation that made you feel like you'd stumbled into someone else's subconscious? Or A Cage of Fragile Heart, where tenderness became performance, and vulnerability was something to wear, not hide? That same raw energy pulses through this month’s line-up – less polished, more honest. And while Attack on Titan Final Exhibition gave us collapsing walls and the weight of legacy, and Hit the Road carved out moments of quiet rebellion, June doesn’t look back so much as it fragments forward. It isn’t neat. It doesn’t try to be. Instead, it offers a series of entry points – some loud, others almost imperceptible – into questions of selfhood, memory and what it means to be seen. There’s no single narrative, no tidy moral. Just flashes of truth, stitched together by a

Halfway through 2025 – blink and it’s June. Somehow, we’ve arrived at Pride Month, drenched in both colour and contradiction. It’s a time carved out for queerness, love-drenched, politicised and stubbornly joyful. But this isn’t a parade just for the queer community. It’s a mirror held up to everyone, reminding us that identity is messy, defiant and worth defending. Pride isn’t a party so much as a punctuation mark – a loud, necessary one. So, in a city that’s constantly shedding its skin, what does celebration look like? Bangkok, never one for subtlety, offers up a bit of everything. The Japanese invasion continues – animated and unapologetic – with Naruto The Gallery, Attack on Titan Final Exhibition and the overwhelmingly adorable 100% Doraemon and Friends Tour. Childhood nostalgia dressed as cultural diplomacy? We’re here for it. On the music front, things are getting beautifully chaotic. The Yussef Dayes Experience promises jazz with the edges left on, a kind of spiritual combustion wrapped in broken beats. Meanwhile, Kula Shaker returns, all psychedelic haze and East-meets-West mysticism. And then there’s MNDSGN, that cosmic soul wanderer, bringing his woozy grooves and unreleased material to a city that rarely pauses long enough to listen. He’s asking us to. Film lovers aren’t left out either. Lahn Mah (How to Make Millions Before Grandma Dies) – arguably the most talked-about Thai feature in recent memory – gets its moment under the spotlight. It’s a family drama, yes

Thai handicrafts have long been celebrated for their precision and the quiet stories woven into every thread and carved detail. It’s no surprise that travellers often seek them out, hoping to carry home a piece of this timeless artistry. Recently, these traditions have found new life – fashion houses weaving classic textiles into bold, contemporary statements, while hand-crafted objects slip effortlessly into modern interiors. At the heart of this revival is the royal ‘Siriraj Phattharaporn’ fabric, unveiled and available to buy for the first time, its patterns so intricate they feel almost sketched rather than woven. Surrounding it are mudmee silks that reimagine tradition with fresh eyes, wool textiles spun in Mae Hong Son, and ceramics and everlasting flowers that refuse to fade. Even the sweets echo heritage, shaped like palace gates and sacred tiles, while a khon performance quietly stitches past and present together. Until August 13. Free. Emsphere, 10am-10pm

It begins as a forest, though not quite the kind you step into with boots and insect repellent. This one is built indoors, thick with light and shadow, where the air smells faintly of rain and the perfumes of Phu Ta Wan. The exhibition imagines Thailand’s tropical rainforest as something more than a landscape – it becomes a stand-in for the human mind, layered and restless, full of places that rarely see daylight. Between glowing installations and slow-moving colours there are questions hidden in mirrors, small quizzes that promise to show you something you didn’t realise was there, seven bottled scents that behave like riddles. By the end you leave a message behind, a scrap of yourself offered up to the trees, as if they might answer back. Until August 24. Free. Rivercity Bangkok, 10am-8pm

Six years is a long time to wait for silence. The Japanese mime troupe returns at last, this time with ten performers –familiar faces mixed with new ones – joined by a single Thai artist. The line-up reads like a surreal cast list: Guri Guri Girls, Sivouplait, Ayukoj, Ketch, Yamamoto Koyo, WaWa and VK.Vich. Mime in Japan has always been its own strange alchemy, less about invisible boxes and more about how much can be said without words at all. It can be funny, yes, but it can also be unexpectedly sharp, leaving you with ideas that echo long after the clapping stops. Watching it feels like stepping into someone else’s dream logic, where the rules are rewritten and you are left to make sense of it on your own. August 2-3. B1,100-1,800 via here. Muang Thai Life Assurance Public Company Limited, 1.30pm and 6pm

It begins with a walk, slow and a little nosy, the kind where every alley looks like it might hide something worth framing. BKK Collective has roped in Hugo and Brew, Sweet Film Bar and Apron Bar for an afternoon that slips between looking and drinking. For nearly two hours people will drift through the neighbourhood with cameras of every sort – film, digital, even the ones that barely work – trying to catch the way light falls on cracked walls or the way a stranger leans into a doorway. Afterwards it folds back indoors at Apron Bar where coffee gives way to conversation, music and the kind of easy atmosphere that makes you forget how long you’ve been sitting there. It’s part walk, part ritual, entirely about noticing. August 2. B260. Reserve via Instagram @bkk.collective. Apron Bar, 2.45pm onwards

Lido Connect will turn into the kind of market that feels a bit like a living mood board. Stalls spill across the space, over 80 of them, each crammed with things that seem to belong to someone’s past life – vintage shirts soft with age, cameras waiting for another pair of hands, furniture that looks like it has been smuggled in from an old film set. There are accessories, odd gadgets, objects that make you stop and wonder who owned them first. Somewhere among it all sits the jersey stand, a shrine to sport, with rare pieces that range from the iconic to the barely remembered. It is part treasure hunt, part social experiment, the kind of place where you arrive for one thing and leave with a bag full of stories instead. August 1-3. Free. Lido Connect, 11am-11.30pm

For a few days The StandardX on Phra Arthit Road will stop being a hotel and become something stranger, a building overtaken by images and objects. Its windows look out on the Chao Phraya, but inside there is a different kind of city taking shape. More than a hundred artists and collectors have been folded into the space, carrying with them everything from canvases and prints to toys too beautiful to ever be played with. It is urban art in its most maximalist form, sharp and loud and unafraid of excess, as if graffiti had crept indoors and multiplied. Wandering through the rooms feels like stumbling through someone else’s dream, one made of colour, plastic and paint, trying to keep up with a world that refuses to stand still. August 1-3. Free. The Standard X, midday-9pm and 5pm-9pm (August 1)

It takes place inside Rover, though ‘inside’ hardly does it justice. The building is split in two, like someone couldn’t decide which kind of chaos they preferred and so chose both. On one side, a room that pounds with hard techno – unapologetic, industrial, the kind of beat that makes conversation feel like an afterthought. Through another door the atmosphere changes, but only just; drum and bass ricochets off the walls, faster, sharper, as if daring you to keep up. Moving between the spaces is like stepping into parallel versions of the same fever dream. There is no pause, only bodies caught in the undertow, sweaty and exhilarated. By the time the lights flicker on, the night has left everyone hollowed out and grinning, ears still ringing. August 1. B250-350 via here and B500 at the door. Blaq Lyte Rover, 9pm onwards

Think of it as a night built on brass and memory. The Thailand Jazz Orchestra is taking on Stevie Wonder, not with nostalgia but with the sly confidence of a band that knows how to make an old melody behave differently. Those songs you’ve hummed in traffic or heard spilling out of shop radios are stripped down and rebuilt with big-band muscle – horns curling around funk, a sly R&B pulse, the kind of swing that makes the air itself tilt. Two singers carry the lyrics but it is the orchestra that tells the story, letting grooves stretch until they almost fray before snapping back. It is Stevie recast in smoke and brass, familiar enough to sing along to, altered enough to feel like something entirely new.July 31. B350 via here and B450 at the door. Siwilai Sound Club, 9pm onwards

Stepping into the space feels like stumbling across the remnants of a childhood dream: soft corners, a scattering of toys, walls alive with paintings of little girls whose faces are round and sweet, yet stubbornly unreadable. It takes a moment to notice the unease – the colours are bright, but the girls never smile, not with their mouths nor their eyes. That absence becomes the point. These works imagine children who inherit a world already damaged, a place where innocence exists but can’t quite shield them from the ruin beneath. Their painted stillness feels familiar because it mirrors the way we carry on, in a time where catastrophe has become background noise. The paintings offer a pause, a reminder that happiness may have to be excavated rather than found.  Until August 3. Free. Joyman Gallery, 11am-6pm 

For a country thousands of kilometres away, Japan has never felt so close. This year marks the tenth anniversary of Thailand’s most elaborate Japan-themed festival – a sprawling celebration of connection, curiosity and cultural exchange. Held under the theme ‘The more you know, the more you love Japan’, the event sprawls across more than 12 major zones and over 400 booths, each one a small portal into a different facet of Japanese life. From sake-tasting rituals to study-abroad advice, J-pop performances to regional food stalls, the festival moves seamlessly between the everyday and the extraordinary. There’s anime, cosmetics, job fairs, travel deals and cooking ingredients – but what lingers is the sense that Japan isn’t being packaged, it’s being shared. Less a spectacle, more an invitation – to taste, to learn, to feel at home somewhere else. August 29-31. Free. Pre-register here. Hall 5-6, Queen Sirikit National Convention Center, 10am-8pm 

Language, for Htein Lin, is never just a tool – it’s terrain. In his upcoming solo exhibition at West Eden Gallery, Myanmar’s script becomes both surface and symbol, pressed with memory, shaped by defiance. The show places the artist’s longstanding political practice in quiet, unflinching conversation with national upheaval and personal history. Once a student activist and political prisoner, Htein Lin has spent decades turning lived experience into form – soap maps carved behind bars, skirts stitched with dissent, signage stripped of state control. Here, the Myanmar alphabet is reimagined not as calligraphy but as architecture: each character a vessel for identity, each curve a code of survival. August 20-October 12. Free. West Eden Gallery, 1am-6pm

Real Friends, the Illinois-born band that’s been soundtracking breakups and quiet breakdowns since 2010, are finally bringing that ache to Southeast Asia. For the first time, the five-piece will tour the region with six shows across Indonesia, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam and the Philippines. It’s the kind of debut that feels overdue. Now fronted by Cody Muraro – who joined in 2020 – the band continues to lean into the rawness that’s earned them over 150 million streams and a global following. In Bangkok, they’ll be joined by Thai openers HutBoy, with a setlist likely featuring tracks from Blue Hour, their 2024 release under their own label Midwest Trash. It’s emo grown up, but still bruised. August 12. B1,500-2,000 via here. Mr.Fox Livehouse, 5pm onwards

Bangkok has never been an easy city to cross. Pavements narrow into nothing, motorbikes lurch out from nowhere and every small errand turns into an endurance test of exhaust fumes. For decades the default response has been the same: take a car, close the windows, hope for the best. And yet something quieter has been gathering at the edges – a fleet of small, pale blue electric buses that ask, very simply, what if we went about this differently? These buses are called the BMA Feeder and, unlike so many good ideas in this city, they are free. They run on batteries, their air-conditioning works and they seem entirely uninterested in honking. The stated ambition is lofty – tempt people away from private vehicles, slice a little off the city’s famously jammed roads and clean up the air in the process – but the experience is surprisingly gentle. Step inside one and Bangkok slows down for a moment. Photograph: BMA Feeder The first phase of the Feeder was tentative. Two routes became the proof of concept: Wat Puranawas – Opposite Phra Phuttha Yodfa Bridge (Memorial Bridge) (Daily, 6am-8pm) Thonburi Market – MRT Lak Song (Daily, 6am-8pm) Other early experiments disappeared quietly, which is how these things usually go. And then something unusual happened. It expanded. Now the city has added new lines that try to knit together the frayed edges of daily life: Din Daeng – BTS Sanam Pao (Daily, 6am-8pm) Samsen Road – Tang Hua Seng Department Store, Thonburi (Daily, 6am-8pm) Kheha Rom

If city life has taught us anything, it’s that stargazing is rarely a metropolitan pastime. Bangkok’s high-rises have a way of eating the horizon whole, yet for two evenings this year a small corner of the city will belong to the sky. The Bangkok Planetarium’s Star Party promises, for once, a night where the cosmos feels closer than the chaos of Ekkamai. Rather than guessing at which stubborn dot might be Mars, the Astronomical Society of Thailand will be there with telescopes, charts and the kind of calm precision that turns an indifferent blur into Saturn’s rings. It’s surprising how much of the universe survives the city’s glare, waiting for someone with a lens and a little patience to point it out. And it isn’t just about looking. The night comes with things to make, touch and pocket. Planets strung onto bracelets, the sort of slime that children can’t stop prodding, and a light art lab where lanterns glow like bottled constellations, bright rebellion against the noise outside. Photograph: Bangkok Planetarium The highlights Look through a real telescope with the Astronomical Society of ThailandForget the smartphone apps that label constellations for you. There is something infinitely better about peering through a full-sized telescope while someone who spends their life thinking about stars points out Saturn’s rings or the deep scatter of the Milky Way. Spend an evening inside science rather than just reading about itThere are activity corners where the serious busines

There’s a certain charm to a park that comes with its own resident dinosaurs. Or at least, that’s what they look like when you’re half-asleep and jogging past the lake at 7am. Lumphini Park, Bangkok’s first public park and an oddly thrilling microcosm of the city’s contradictions, has turned 100 this year. And frankly, it’s aged more gracefully than most of us. In 1925, King Rama VI generously gifted 360 rais of royal land to the public, marking a rare gesture of leisure-focused governance. However, it would take nearly two decades for the park to fully take shape and flourish into its final form.Completed in 1942 and now home to a monument of the King standing rather regally at the Rama IV entrance, Lumpini feels like it exists in a slightly alternate Bangkok. One where things move just a bit slower, the air is thick with birdsong not honking traffic, and the most pressing threat is a monitor lizard giving you side-eye. Let’s address the lizard in the room (everybody talks about them). The water monitors of Lumpini Park are not subtle. They’re massive, they roam freely, and yes, they look like they’ve been lifted straight from the Jurassic era. Tourists squeal, locals barely flinch. These semi-aquatic reptiles have become a kind of unofficial mascot – wholly unbothered by your presence. They sunbathe like retirees and occasionally startle a yoga class. It’s their park too, after all. Sprawling across central Bangkok, Lumphini is a rare thing: green space without pretence. No

There’s a moment – somewhere between the first awkward shuffle and the second-guessing of your limbs – when you realise dancing isn’t about being good. It’s about forgetting you were supposed to care in the first place. Dance in a Day is a roving workshop with a mission less about mastery and more about movement. From July 23-August 3, seven studios across Bangkok are throwing open their doors to anyone who’s ever tapped a foot under the table or secretly choreographed their reflection in the kitchen window. Just two hours, and perhaps a willingness to feel foolish in the best possible way. The format is simple. You arrive, unsure. You stretch, laugh, swing a little. Then suddenly, you’re moving – really moving – with strangers who feel increasingly less like strangers. There’s no pressure to perform, no final exam. Just an invitation to try. To flail if you must, but to flail wholeheartedly. The classes aren’t confined to one corner of the city. Whether you find yourself at Character EmQuartier, Moda Dance Studio, Rumpuree near Samyan, or tucked inside Inner Studio at ICS, each location promises the same: a judgement-free zone where experience is irrelevant and enthusiasm is currency. Other participating spaces include Hemingway, Character Bang Na and Saute Dance Studio – names you may or may not have heard, but ones that will, for a few days, double as sanctuaries for hesitant first steps and accidental twirls. It’s not about becoming a professional or posting the final res

It’s not quite the end of summer, but the heat has slackened just enough to entertain the idea of sitting outside – not to sweat, but to settle in. On August 1-3, SAMA Garden offers a three-night escape from the indoors, swapping streaming queues for open-air screens beneath a gently lit dome and a canopy of leaves.  What’s on offer is less about spectacle and more about atmosphere. A garden cinema, framed by soft lights and easy company, where you’re welcome to bring a date, a friend or even your dog (they’ve thought of everything – there’s a pet-friendly zone with ample space for snoots and tails). Each ticket, priced at B550, includes a film, a snack-and-drink bundle and access to what may be the most indulgent detail of the evening – a complimentary 15-minute massage, courtesy of Divana, available only for those who register via Line@SAMA Garden at least a day before. The screening schedule leans into comfort. No high-stakes thrillers, no sudden death. Just gently plotted narratives, a bit of romance, a touch of nostalgia and the occasional tear. Film schedule Photograph: The Intern Friday August 1, 6:30pm - The Intern Ben, a retired widower full of life, signs up as a senior intern at a booming fashion startup founded by the ambitious Jules. He’s not just there to learn the ropes, but soon becomes a quiet force of wisdom and warmth for everyone around him.   Photograph: 10 Things I Hate About You   Saturday August 2, 5:30pm - 10 Things I Hate About You Kat is a

There’s a moment – between tantrum and nap, mess and miracle – when a child sees something they don’t have words for yet. A tree that talks without speaking. A kite that mourns a landfill. A song that sounds like it’s been played since before they were born.  While most children's entertainment promises noise, sugar and barely disguised marketing, BICT on the Move arrives this August with something far stranger: sincerity. A mini wandering theatre festival that meanders through Bangkok, Chiang Mai, Ang Thong and Loei, it does so without fanfare – only the quiet belief that children are more thoughtful than they’re often given credit for. With performances from France, Japan and Thailand, the festival doesn’t shout or simplify. It leans into ambiguity, lets silence hang, trusts young minds to draw their own conclusions. And – crucially – it’s all free. What’s on Pour Hêtre (To (Be)ech) - FranceA wordless performance by French duo Compagnie Iéto, who use acrobatics and raw movement to explore the fragile balance between humans and the natural world. Centred around a single beech tree, the piece unfolds without dialogue – yet says everything. The tree, carved and climbed upon, becomes a stand-in for memory, growth and the weight of being seen. Tonbi (Black Kite) - JapanCreated by artist-family Usaginingen and their eight-year-old daughter, this multimedia work combines animation, shadow puppetry and live music. Set on Teshima Island, once a landfill site, the story is told thro

MWAM fans, now it’s time for change again – a band in wolf masks, all thrashing guitars and bilingual battle cries, announces their return. And yet, fans of Japan’s Man with a Mission wouldn’t have it any other way. The Shibuya-born quintet – equal parts myth and mayhem – have just announced the Asia leg of their Howling Across the World tour, which sees them land in Bangkok this December. If you were there in 2018, you remember. The sweat-drenched fervour at Nakarin Space. The way ‘Raise Your Flag’ made everyone in the room believe they were leading some stylish, rock-fuelled rebellion. That night, Man with a Mission played their first ever show in Thailand as part of the Chasing the Horizon tour. It’s been six years, and the pack is finally circling back. This time, they’re headed to MCC Hall at The Mall Lifestore Bangkae on December 14. And they’re not coming alone. Singapore gets its turn at Capitol Theatre, while Zepp Kuala Lumpur is on the list too. Add to that another four stops – Guangzhou, Shanghai, Seoul and Taipei. For a band whose very existence feels like a fever dream – lore has it they’re hybrid super-creatures created by a mad scientist in the Antarctic – they’ve managed to carve out a surprisingly lucid discography. Their sound is hard to pin down, mostly because they refuse to stay in one lane. One minute it’s alternative rock, the next it’s borderline nu-metal with synths and hooks that could soundtrack an action film. The lyrics slide between English and J

Another great piece of news this month for Thai citizens, and this one comes with a view. There are certain places that seem too cinematic to be real. The Phra Prang at Wat Arun is one of them. Catch it at dusk, as the Chao Phraya turns from brown to bronze, and you’d be forgiven for thinking it was CGI. But this month, the towering Khmer-style spire – stitched together with porcelain shards, seashells and sheer devotion – got something even more official than a sunset Instagram story. It’s been added to UNESCO’s Tentative List of World Heritage Sites. In bureaucratic speak, this means ‘not quite there yet.’ But let’s not be coy – the letter came signed by UNESCO’s Assistant Director-General for Culture, praising Thailand’s submission and confirming it ticks every sacred, historical and aesthetic box. Locals call it the Temple of Dawn, but it’s not just about the light. Rising 82 metres into the Bangkok sky, the central prang is said to mirror Mount Meru, the mythical axis of the Buddhist universe. While other landmarks go heavy on the gold, Wat Arun is all about texture: floral mosaics made from broken teacups, painstakingly embedded by hand – a kind of architectural patchwork, delicate but defiant. This isn’t heritage that’s been sealed off in a velvet rope museum sense. Wat Arun is very much alive: monks walk barefoot past tourists in bucket hats, and locals still pray beneath the spire as riverboats honk in the background. It stands at the confluence of devotion and daily

By all accounts, Bangkok wasn’t meant to become the epicentre of experimental documentary. And yet here we are, while most of the city hides indoors from the rain or queues up for iced coffee, a quiet cultural rebellion is about to begin. What the Doc! (WTD!) – Thailand’s first-ever international documentary film festival – isn’t here to play by the rules. In fact, it wants to rip them up entirely. Running from August 22-31, this inaugural edition promises something thrillingly unpolished: real stories told by filmmakers who aren’t interested in being polite. 18 documentaries – six Thai, 12 international – will go head-to-head for top honours, and not a single one is here for background noise. These are bold, opinionated, often unpredictable works, picked from a staggering 1,599 submissions. They're not just ‘in’ competition – they ‘are’ the competition. No streaming, no replays, no safety nets. You show up or you miss out. There’s serious money on the line, too. Feature and short-length winners will walk away with B200,000 in their back pockets, with a jury prize of B180,000 close behind. There's also B100,000 waiting for the best female director, and another for the film that goes greenest – because yes, apparently saving the planet is also a genre now. The brains behind this ambitious move? Documentary Club with support from THACCA, the Department of Cultural Promotion, the Ministry of Culture of Thailand, Chamnong Rangsikun Foundation, Koh-Kae and White Light Studio. Toge

There’s something unreasonably moving about hearing the opening notes of ‘Hedwig’s Theme’ played by a full orchestra. The air changes. It’s not just nostalgia – though there’s plenty of that – but a kind of communal spell. On November 8 and 9 at Prince Mahidol Hall, the Thailand Philharmonic Orchestra will conjure that very magic with Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban in Concert, the third instalment of the live film concert series that pairs Hollywood fantasy with old-school musical precision. This is not the first time Alcopop and Five Four Live have dabbled in sorcery. Their past ventures into the wizarding world saw robes, round glasses and the occasional stuffed owl sprinkled across concert halls. But Azkaban feels different. Tonally darker, more mature, less fixated on chocolate frogs. Sirius Black escapes. Dementors float ominously over the Hogwarts Express. A time-turner whirls. It’s the moment the Potterverse grows up. Conductor Timothy Henty returns to lead the orchestra through John Williams’ shape-shifting score – arguably one of the franchise’s most playful and eerie. Expect fluttering woodwinds during Buckbeak’s flight and those jagged, breathless strings that accompany Harry’s late-night wanderings through the castle. All of it unfolds beneath a towering 40-foot screen, where Alfonso Cuarón’s fog-drenched cinematography plays out in high definition. But what makes these events special – over the sheer technical coordination required to sync bow to brooms

Dinosaurs may have bowed out 65 million years ago, but they refuse to stay buried. Their bones, like half-finished sentences, keep surfacing – dragged into the present by palaeontologists and the stubbornly curious. Thailand, not typically the first country that comes to mind when you think of ancient lizards the size of buses, is quietly rewriting that narrative. It’s not just temples and tropical fruit – beneath the soil lie secrets older than myths. The Thainosaur exhibition makes this point with a subtle kind of grandeur.  Photograph: Museum Pier Photograph: Museum Pier In the collective imagination, dinosaurs belong to places with wide deserts, fossilised bones half-buried in ochre earth and a cowboy holding a brush. Not Thailand. But this exhibition wants you to reconsider everything you thought you knew about this humid, noodle-filled strip of land. Because once, it was prowled by giants – real ones. Running from now until November 2 at Museum Siam's riverside offshoot, Museum Pier, Thainosaur doesn’t just hand you a plastic dino and a souvenir sticker. It lures you back hundreds of millions of years and then kindly walks you through it all. With realism, drama and the occasional sauropod. Entry is from 10am-6pm, daily. Photograph: Museum Pier Here's how the journey unfolds: Ground floorForget Hollywood’s A-list reptiles – this level is all about the ancients who crawled, swam or slithered before the dinosaurs took over. Here you'll meet Isanosaurus, an early sa

It starts, as all good things to do, with a rummage. The 18th edition of Made By Legacy returns this July 18-20, midday-11pm at its new home – sprawled across BITEC’s SAMA Garden like someone tipped over a particularly stylish suitcase. The venue’s new glasshouse, sun-drenched and lined with trees, feels less like a market and more like a living scrapbook: one page denim, the next hand-thrown ceramic, the next a stack of Patti Smith LPs that smell faintly of 1987. What began as a secondhand fair has become something else entirely. Not a lifestyle brand (god forbid), but a kind of mirror – reflecting back the objects we cling to, the eras we romanticise, the way a cracked teacup or slightly warped record sleeve can feel more real than anything flat-packed and algorithm-approved. There are over 150 vendors this year: from Japanese collectors to Thai artists, furniture restorers, indie publishers, potters, vinyl evangelists and those who still believe in the handwritten price tag.   Photograph: madebylegacy   And the music – always on vinyl, never an afterthought – drifts in with the ease of something overheard through a motel wall. Bowie, some forgotten disco, a bit of Japanese jazz. It gives the illusion, convincing and cinematic, that you’ve stumbled upon a flea market in another country, another decade. One where nobody’s trying to sell you anything, only share what they’ve found. Photograph: madebylegacy It’s curated, yes, but not in a suffocating way. There’s still roo